High-Altitude winds could be linked to regional weather extremes, based on a new study. This phenomenon is believed to play a significant role in storms in North America, Europe and Asia. This process can bring hot, cold, wet or dry conditions to areas, increasing chances of damaging weather.
Winds high up in the lower atmosphere generally blow west to east. However, this is not a straight run, as the winds wind their way north and south as they blow around the globe.
An international team of climatologists examined land-based climate observations to determine the times and nature of extreme weather events for the period 1979 to 2012. They looked for widespread, long-term droughts and rainy periods. They then matched these records to the history of the wave-like progressions of high-altitude winds over the same time span.
This behavior of the winds can bring cold air down from the Arctic or warm air up from tropical regions. This can also bring heavy storms to areas they would not otherwise strike - or draw storms away from regions, bringing on droughts.
"The impacts of large and slow moving atmospheric waves are different in different places. In some places amplified waves increase the chance of unusually hot conditions, and in others the risk of cold, wet or dry conditions," James Screen of the University of Exeter and lead author of a journal article announcing the results of the study, said.
While western Asia is likely to experience longer dry spells, the phenomenon could bring more rain to North America, Europe and central Asia. Western parts are North America and middle Asia is more likely to see heat waves, while extended cold snaps become more common in eastern areas of the continent, according to the study.
University of Melbourne researchers also participated in the research.
"The study revealed that these types of events are strongly related to well-developed wave patterns, and that these patterns increase the chance of heat wave," Ian Simmonds, from the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne, stated in a press release.
Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippine islands in November 2013, brought wind gusts up to 235 miles per hour to the Pacific chain. This is believed to be the fourth-strongest storm on record, and the most powerful storm to ever hit land. It was the third category 5 "super-typhoon" to make landfall since 2010.
Investigation of the role of high-altitude winds and their role in widespread extreme weather events could help meteorologists better predict extreme weather events.
The study was published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
